Arsenal fans were left puzzled after watching Manchester United’s draw against Southampton when Bruno Fernandes swung a punch yet received no punishment.
Since Thursday night and Gabriel Martinelli’s double yellow red card, Arsenal fans have had to listen to pundits telling them that the call was right and they need to stop whinging and being so paranoid.
But, if any of them stopped to actually listen to what Arsenal fans are trying to say, they would hear a fanbase exasperated after watching foul upon foul go unpunished only to see Arsenal players sent off for ‘letter of the law’ offences on a regular basis.
And no, this isn’t an issue with Arsenal’s discipline, at least not entirely.
I here for it. Fed up of the ‘letter of the law’ being applied us whilst it’s benefit of the doubt for others.
— InsightArsenal. (@Insight_Arsenal) February 13, 2022
Take Saturday’s Premier League game between Manchester United and Southampton, for instance.
https://twitter.com/DailyCannon/status/1492494940328316930
At one point, Paul Pogba pushed a Southampton player before immediately kicking another one. The end result for these two yellow card incidents in one period of play? A single yellow card.
Then, there was Bruno Fernandes taking a swipe at Ward-Prowse after failing to throw him to the ground.
"I mean, I just don't know what Granit Xhaka was thinking there. He gave the referee no choice but to send him off" https://t.co/4IyD7fEAJZ
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) February 13, 2022
This wasn’t even punished with a yellow card, never mind a red.
Can you honestly say that if Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey or Gabriel did that they would not have been punished?
If you can, then you haven’t been paying attention at all.
Take a look at some of these, for instance.
Only one of these offences was even given as a freekick:
This is just off the top of my head. THIS season. No red cards, dodgey VAR calls. The agenda is real. pic.twitter.com/gTSMb6RjA0
— DAN ~ ROBOFISH (@R0bofish) February 12, 2022
If you want a far longer list, you can find it here.
So, you’ll forgive Arsenal fans for being angry that they watch their players get sent off for things others get away with on a regular basis.
We don’t want Arsenal treated as if they are different or special, we’d just like to see them treated like everybody else.
If they were, there would be an FA charge coming for Manchester United for how they crowded the ref on a number of occasions during the game.
I hope united get fined for mobbing the ref when pogba got booked like arsenal did!! #Arsenal #United #Southampton
— Sam murrell (@Sammur25) February 12, 2022
When Arsenal players surrounded the referee against Man City they were fined. I’m not disagreeing with that but I very much doubt we’ll see a consistent approach from the FA regarding United players doing similar yesterday & that’s something I do disagree with.
— Smithy (@Steve_JN_Smith) February 13, 2022
But we all know that won’t happen.
Oh, and for those still inclined to say refs aren’t influenced or biased, here is Phil Neville admitting that referees favoured United over Arsenal.